Eat the Rainbow, Sparkle Like a Diamond

For truly superior health eat the rainbow in vegetables every day

Step Three: Add a variety of colorful vegetables to your meals

Eat the Rainbow for Superior Health

When you eat a variety of colors on your plate such as red bell peppers, yellow tomatoes, green onions, purple eggplant, etc. you will have a sparkle like the brightest diamond! You can't go wrong with any plant that has bright, vibrant colors! It is because fruits and vegetables contain phytochemicals (that is the substance that makes them have color) which are full of antioxidants that help your body to be healthier.

David Heber, MD, PhD, and Bowerman attempted to group foods according to their predominant phytochemical group, coding plant foods into seven color categories: red, red/purple, orange, orange/yellow, yellow/green, green, and white/green so we now see our fruit and vegetable rainbow!

Why you should eat more vegetables:

can significantly reduce risk for heart disease

can protect against certain types of cancers.

especially those with fiber may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

focusing on fruits and veggies rich in potassium contributes to lower blood pressure, and may also reduce the risk of developing kidney stones as well as helping to decrease bone loss.

Vegetables are typically lower in calories per cup than other higher-calorie foods, this helps to lower calorie intake. This can reduce your risk for obesity and other related diseases.

When eating the rainbow, try to focus on vegetables as much as possible and limit your intake of fruit. (To read more about why, see the footnote at the end of this post.) Make sure you are adding at least two, but preferably even more vegetables to each of your meals daily. Remember: Eat the rainbow and you will sparkle like a diamond.

Getting your children to eat their vegetables might be easier than you think when you follow these tips:

Be a good role model for children by eating vegetables with meals and as snacks, keeping cut veggies within reach for children, while keeping sugary snacks out of sight.

Consider letting children choose the dinner vegetables or keeping a buffet of containers of veggies in your fridge for easy salads.

Depending on their age, children can help shop for, clean, peel, or cut up vegetables.

Encourage children to pick a new vegetable to try if they go with your shopping.

Use cut-up vegetables as part of afternoon snacks, keeping these within easy access will increase the odds your child will eat them.

Many kids do not like mixed vegetables, many do not like their foods to touch. To remedy this, try serving two vegetables separately. I have had a lot of success preparing meals for my children in Bento trays even at home.

Separating foods might encourage picky kids to eat more veggies!

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Footnote: here's why: Read this article (scroll down about halfway to the charts about fruit). Typically, I tend to mostly consume my fruit in the form of berries, but here is a great article explaining the best choices in fruit. If you have been reading about the trend of eating a mostly fruit diet, please read this article: Surprising Health Hazards of an All Fruit Diet My family and I tried the raw vegan lifestyle for a couple of years. We ate a large amount of vegetables, nuts, and seeds however, I consumed a green smoothie every morning with what I considered a low to moderate amount of fruit, however, after about 9 months, I had full blown hypoglycemia. According to my doctor at that time, it was from eating too many fruit sugars and not enough protein. Certain disorders of the adrenal glands and the pituitary gland can also result in a deficiency of key hormones that regulate glucose production (1) resulting in non-diabetes related hypoglycemia in adults. It is more likely that people will suffer from eating too many processed foods than eating fruit, so I wanted to keep this as a footnote. I would much rather you eat some fruit than a candy bar or sugary processed snack, however, this is just for those all or nothing people (like myself) who think if a little fruit is good, then a lot of fruit is better.